In order to improve external appearance quality of a vehicle, and especially a rear portion of the vehicle, Japan Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-91129 discloses a rear bumper integrally formed with cylindrical diffusers extending into the rear bumper and tail pipes of mufflers that open into the diffusers.
In some conventional vehicle exhaust devices, front end portions of the diffusers are bent down with respect to the vehicle and tail pipes are inserted into the bent portions so that the ground and parts, such as suspensions, cannot be seen from front end opening portions of the diffusers.
With the above structure, however, dirt splashed by rear wheels enters the diffusers, which reduces external appearance quality of the vehicle and, in some instances, limits the function of the diffusers.
An object of the invention, in a vehicle exhaust device in which tail pipes are inserted into diffusers integrated with a rear bumper, is to prevent dirt from entering the diffusers, improve external appearance quality of a vehicle, and maintain the function of the diffusers.
According to the present invention, there is provided a vehicle exhaust device in which rear wheels are disposed outside, in a vehicle width direction, rear side members extending in a vehicle front-rear direction, a rear bumper is disposed behind the rear wheels, an opening portion is formed at a side portion of the rear bumper in the vehicle width direction, a cylindrical diffuser extending into the rear bumper is mounted in the opening portion, a muffler is disposed at a rear portion of a vehicle with an axis of the muffler extending in the vehicle front-rear direction, and a tail pipe connected to a rear end face of the muffler is inserted into the diffuser while spaced from an inner periphery of the diffuser. The muffler is disposed on a rear side of the rear wheels in the vehicle front-rear direction with an outer peripheral face of the muffler protruding outside the rear side member in the vehicle-width direction, and the rear end face of the muffler faces a front end opening portion of the diffuser.
As described above, the muffler is disposed on the rear side of the rear wheels in the vehicle front-rear direction with the outer peripheral face of the muffler protruding outside the rear side member in the vehicle-width direction. Therefore it is possible to have dirt splashed by the rear wheel hit against the outer peripheral face of the muffler and fall, to prevent the dirt from entering the diffuser.
Moreover, the rear end face of the muffler protruding outside the rear side member in the vehicle width direction faces the front end opening portion of the diffuser. Therefore, it is possible to make the rear wheel and parts around it invisible from a space between the front end opening portion of the diffuser and the rear end face of the muffler when the vehicle is seen from behind to thereby improve the external appearance quality of the vehicle.